How to use Microsoft easy fix solutions

Summary

This article provides information about Microsoft easy fix solutions and how to use them to resolve software issues. “Microsoft easy fix” was previously known as “Microsoft Fix it.” The article also contains information about the end of support notification for legacy Fix it solutions.

End of support notification for Fix it

If you are redirected to this article when you click the Download button of a “Fix it” solution in a Microsoft Knowledge Base article, this means that the solution has been retired and is no longer supported. We recommend that you use one of the following diagnostics to resolve your software issues.

What is a Microsoft easy fix solution?

"Microsoft easy fix" was also known as Microsoft Fix it. Microsoft easy fix solutions can help diagnose and resolve issues for Microsoft products or third-party software that affects Microsoft products. Microsoft easy fix solutions are usually found in Knowledge Base articles or other Microsoft support content. Clicking the Download button will download a Microsoft easy fix solution that can help you deal with software issues automatically.

A Microsoft easy fix package can be one of the following file types based on the technology that is used to create the easy fix package:

.msi

.diagcab

Note .diagcab solutions are for Windows 7 and later versions of Windows only. Windows Vista and Windows XP cannot run .diagcab solutions.

MSI solutions are created by using the Windows Install platform. An .msi package contains a single fix that addresses a single problem of your software. .diagcab solutions are created by using the Windows Troubleshooting Platform. A .diagcab package may contain a single fix or multiple fixes to address a single issue or a series of issues in a complex scenario.

Note Microsoft easy fix solutions are not substitutes for Microsoft hotfixes, security updates, or product updates, but may be used as a temporary stop-gap until the regular product response is ready.

How to run a Microsoft easy fix solution

All easy fix solutions start with the same process.

To run an easy fix solution, click the Download button or the "Fix this problem" link in the KB article that hosts the solution.

A File Download dialog box will appear in your browser. Here are some examples of the different download dialog boxes on some popular browsers:

For Internet Explorer 11, the download tooltip is shown at the bottom of the web browser.﻿

For Google Chrome version 33, the download tooltip is shown at the bottom of the web browser.

Download the file and then run it on your computer. For example, in the Internet Explorer 11 example mentioned previously, click Run on the download prompt at the bottom of the browser.

Some packages may require you to log on to Windows as an administrator. You may be prompted to provide credentials when you run the package.

Follow the prompts in the easy fix solution to complete the troubleshooting process. The exact prompts may differ, depending on which kind of easy fix package you downloaded and the individual easy fix solution itself.

On the first page of the Diagnostic Troubleshooting wizard, you can click the "Advanced" link to select whether to diagnose and fix the problem automatically, or to manually select the potential fix to apply.

The solution takes time to diagnose and repair the problems. You can see the progress in the wizard.

When the troubleshooting process is complete, the result page will show you the problems that cannot be fixed. Clicking View detailed information will show you the detailed troubleshooting report.

The Microsoft easy fix solution might prompt you that the solution does not apply to your operating system and application version. In this case, you will be unable to run the easy fix, and therefore you should look for a different solution for your issue.

The Microsoft Fix it solution takes time to diagnose and repair your problems. You can see the progress in the wizard.

You can learn more about the solution by clicking the "Return to the Knowledge Base article" button on the "Diagnosis complete" dialog box.

More Information

Microsoft easy fix solution prerequisites

Easy fix solutions requires a minimum-supported operating system and software. For .msi solutions, you can run the solutions on Windows XP and later versions of operating systems. For, .diagcab solutions, you can run the solutions on Windows 7 and later versions of Windows.

The easy fix wizard will be localized for the following languages. In some cases, the easy fix wizard may be in English only. However, the automated solution also works for other language versions of Windows.

German (de-DE)

Slovak (sk-SK)

Croatian (hr-HR)

Spanish (Spain) (es-ES)

Slovenian (sl-SI)

Estonian (et-EE)

French (fr-FR)

Czech (cs-CZ)

Finnish (fi-FI)

Japanese (ja-JP)

Danish (da-DK)

Greek (el-GR)

Chinese Simplified (zh-CN)

Dutch (nl-NL)

Hungarian (hu-HU)

Hebrew (he-IL)

Turkish (tr-TR)

Latvian (lv-LV)

Chinese Traditional (zh-TW)

Polish (pl-PL)

Lithuanian (lt-LT)

Korean (ko-KR)

Romanian (ro-RO)

Norwegian, Bokmål (nb-NO)

Thai (th-TH)

Russian ((ru-RU)

Serbian (sr-Latn-CS)

Italian (it-IT)

Swedish (sv-SE)

English (en-US)

Portuguese (pt-BR)

Ukrainian (uk-UA)

Arabic (ar-sa)

Portuguese (pt-PT)

Bulgarian (bg-BG)

Vietnamese (vi-VN)

Indonesian Bahasa (id-ID)

India Hindi (hi-IN)

The following a sample localized easy fix wizard in Chinese Simplified language:

How to use an easy fix solution on a different computer

If you are not on the computer that has the problems when you download the easy fix solution, you can save the easy fix solution to a flash drive or to a CD/DVD, and then you can run it on the computer that has the problem.

Microsoft easy fix solutions can be downloaded and distributed by using Group Policy preferences, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (during or after deployment), or software distribution tools. You can apply the solutions silently through the following methods.

For Microsoft easy fix solutions with the extension: .msi

You can use the following script to deploy and execute the easy fix silently throughout an enterprise environment.

msiexec /q /i [.msi]

Note

"[.msi]"is a command parameter. It must be replaced with the easy fix solution that is downloaded to the local computer.

For Microsoft easy fix solutions with the extension: .diagcab

You can use the following script to deploy and execute the easy fix solution silently throughout an enterprise IT environment.

"[AutomatedFixUnattended.ps1]" is a placeholder for the script path. You must download and unzip the file from this link, and then replace the placeholder with the local path of the script file that you saved.

"[.diagcab]"is a placeholder for the local path of the easy fix solution. It must be replaced with the easy fix solution that is downloaded to the local computer.

For example, the following command runs the easy fix solution from the local folder: D:\Temp